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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Three-Body Problem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Technology, Progress, and Destruction
Scientific Discovery and Political Division
Trauma and Cyclical Harm
Theory vs. Lived Experience
History and Legacy
Summary
Analysis
When Wang arrives at Ding’s apartment, he sees that it is unfurnished other than a large pool table. A drunken Ding explains that while he had hoped the new place might encourage Yang Dong to start a family, in reality, “she was like a star, always so distant.” Ding encourages Wang not to get further involved in the Frontiers of Science.
Ding Yi’s comparison of Yang Dong to a star is telling: Yang was so consumed by her work that in many ways, she became it. Several of the characters in the novel will struggle with this same problem, as it proves difficult to balance high-level scientific work with human intimacy.
Themes
Ding invites Wang to play pool with him, and the two men discuss how the balls on the table are reminiscent of particles colliding in a particle accelerator. Using the pool balls as an example, Ding explains that in physics, scientists assume that the key principles “are invariant across space and time.” But Ding explains that recently, super high-powered particle accelerators disproved this assumption, forcing scientists to realize that there are no laws of physics that apply in all conditions.
In simpler terms, the machines physicists are using—called particle accelerators—no longer provide consistent experimental results. Instead, the data is different every time, making it impossible to form or prove reliable theories about matter.
Themes
Wang begins to understand that if there are no universal laws of physics, then the discipline itself ceases to exist; this degree of uncertainty caused many scientists, including Yang Dong, to give up on work and life. Before Wang leaves, Ding gives him the address of Yang Dong’s mother. Ding explains that Yang’s mother lives alone, and he encourages Wang to visit her.
If physics revolves around creating laws for the universe and then applying them, the absence of such laws means the science itself has collapsed. For someone like Yang Dong, whose entire life was centered on her work, this collapse is devastating. But though Yang only valued her work, there were many people—like Ding Yi and Yang’s mother—who valued her life on its own terms, and who are then crushed by her loss.
Themes
